The Six Days He Sat By Her Bedside
by windowsandsunshine
Summary: The Missing moments from "Painkillers" While Danny sits by Baez's bedside while she is in the hospital, *Spoilers up to season 8 episode 9*
1. Night 1

I don't own these characters, just a fan telling a story. Hope you enjoy!

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He just sat by her bed, he didn't even hold her hand. He had already set the pictures of her family on the tray, would she be mad at him for going to her place and taking them? He just sat looking at her, she looked almost dead. They had told him she was going to make it, but were they positive, he had lost his wife, his Linda, just six months before, how could he lose his partner too. He had called his dad and asked him to watch the boys until she got out of the hospital. But who knew how long it would before she woke up. The doctor's had told him it was a close call and he barely got her there in time. How could have lived with himself if she had died?

"I'm gonna catch this son of a bitch, I promise." He whispered taking her hand for the second time that night. "That guy, Peter, we have in custody, he's not the dealer, he was actually a customer, he gave us the name of a kid who was best friends with the kid who OD, God I can't remember his name." Danny found that talking to her, even when unconscious made it easier to deal with. "Baez you have to make it!" he pleaded.

He looked over at the pictures of her family, the picture of her brother made his heart hurt. He had died protecting his sister trying to make her proud of him by for once being the "good guy" it had been a few years ago, but on each anniversary Baez would call in sick, he had stopped by once and found her crying on her couch, they had sat and talked about how he had been such a great brother before he had gotten hooked on drugs. Danny had done his best to support her, but unlike him, she had more regrets, she didn't have a good relationship with her brother, but Danny had when he lost Joe. She couldn't even talk to her family about it, they blamed her for his death, and they couldn't forgive her for being a cop. That was evident by the fact none of them had come to sit by her bedside.

He didn't sleep much he just sat and watched her, hoping, waiting anxiously hoping to see her eyelids flutter for her to wake up and everything to be okay. Around five thirty in the morning he rose from the chair, he took her hand.

"I have to go home and get ready for work, you rest and get better." He said softly, "Wake up soon."

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Hope you liked that, more to come. This is just going to be a short story about the night Danny sat by Maria's bedside after she accidently OD.


	2. Night 2

I don't own these characters just a fan wanting to tell a story, hope you enjoy!

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He came by again, he hadn't planned to but he just had. He sat beside but tonight he had brought a book, he looked like he was reading it but none of the nurses saw him turn a page. He couldn't focus on some words on a page when she might not wake up. They had told him she might be able to hear him, but they weren't positive. Around 3 A.M he put the book down and took her hand.

"I really need you to wake up." He pleaded, "I can't lose you too," Every moment he sat beside her he remembers how she had been beside him when he got the call, she had supported him when his legs gave out from under him. She had stayed beside him; she had cried with him, she had driven him home after finding him after having a dozen too many drinks. He hadn't known till after but she had gone to Jack and Sean and cried with both of them as well, doing little things her own little way trying to make losing their mother just a little easier. He was thankful. God, he was thankful, that she had never given up.

"I'm still on the job because of you," He said taking her small hand in both of his own. "If you hadn't been my partner I would have quit, I couldn't do it without her, but with you, it made it easier to keep going on, now I can do it, but I need you beside me." He was rambling now but it felt better, "I was so so lost when she, she, she died." He had said it, he had said she died. "But you gave me a purpose, you reminded me what the job was, you reminded me to take care of my boys." Danny whipped the tear from his eye, "Maria promise me you won't give up!"

Danny held her hand the rest of the night, as he drifted off before he had to report to work the next morning. The nurses walked by the room of the cop, they knew the man who sat beside her. The man who had lost his wife to a helicopter crash, the man who now waited to wonder if the same fate awaited the woman he trusted with his life, the woman who had saved his life on multiple occasions. They didn't say a word, but it didn't go unnoticed that the patient's vitals would stable when she would hear the voice of the man who came each night.

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Hope you liked it!


	3. Night 3

I don't own these characters, just a fan telling a story. Hope you enjoy!

Danny walked wearily into the hospital room and sat in the chair. Her condition hadn't improved.

"That second kid OD today, but his girlfriend was willing to talk we are checking out what she said now," Danny explained, taking her hand in his. "I wish you were here that DEA girl is going to drive me crazy." Danny sighed, "You always make sense of my craziness she just looks like, hell, like I'm crazy." Danny tried to keep talking, but her not responding hurt more than he cared to admit, but the fact she wasn't responding made him talk about things that were even more personal. He just stayed beside her, as the nurses came in to change her IV bags. He would speak some and eventually he had briefed her on all the details of the case.

"Jack is starting to look at colleges, and I can see it hurts him that Linda isn't there to be with him during this time. I just don't know what to say, I miss her too and I don't know how to tell him she's still with us." Danny said, sitting back in the chair, studying her face, her eyes were closed and she looked as if she was asleep, but the fact he couldn't wake her proved that observation wrong. "Sean is getting to those years where everything I say is wrong when Jack was in that stage Linda always knew how to get him to snap out of it. I just don't know what to do without. The boys need a mom, and she was taken way too soon from them. Everyone says it not my fault, but I can't but feel like it is. If I didn't work as many hours she wouldn't have taken that shift. I try not to blame the job, but sometimes I do. I think Sean does and I don't know how to help him." Danny stopped talking as he realized he was telling her things he hadn't even admitted to himself.

"Maria," Danny said, it was strange her first name on his lips, "You have to wake up, you have to!"

Danny would have twice if he knew what the nurses were saying.

"I wish I had a boyfriend who would stay beside me like that it was in the hospital." One nurse had said in the break room.

"I'm surprised he moved on so fast from Linda, she was a saint, but maybe there was something going on before, heaven rests her soul, Linda past." Another remarked.

"She's not his girlfriend, she's his partner, they risk their lives for each other every day. Do you even know what he is talking to her about? I have walked by some and he is talking to about how he can't cope with losing his wife. You should be ashamed for even insinuating that Danny Reagan was unfaithful to his wife, We all knew Danny and Linda and they couldn't have been more in love." Yet another nurse defended, she had been a friend of Linda's and wouldn't let her widow be abused just because he waited by his partners besides each night. "Think about that when you walk and say a prayer."

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Hope you guys liked that! Thank's for all the kind reviews, the mean a lot to me!


	4. Night 4

I don't own these characters just a fan wanting to tell a story. Hope you enjoy!

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He came in later than usual, he looked exhausted, but there was a piece about him. He sat by her bed.

"We caught the guy," he said, "He was a physical therapist who bought prescriptions off of patients. The son of a bitch wasn't even remorseful about how many kids had died."

He took her hand. It was warm and soft but limp, only a constant reminder that she wasn't truly there.

"Maria, you have to beat this, this bastard too so much from everyone don't let him take you too." Danny pleaded, her first name foreign on his lips, "I can't lose another friend, I lost too many of them already, Joe, Linda, and-" he thought of each of his military buddies he had lost, the nineteen-year-old who had died because he was filling in for him, and each and every other one. He still didn't talk about Iraq, it was too fresh, the pain and death he saw there, and if he had ever seen a godforsaken place it would have been there. The heat, the sun, the sand, the death, all of it had been too much, how could he talk about the one thing in life he wanted to forget. Linda had tried to get him to talk, and some he had shared but the deepest darkness that lay in his heart had yet to ever see the light of day. Seeing Maria lying there just reminded him of all the death he had seen and all the death he caused.

"When I was in Irag, I lost my friends…. To a landmine, I should have died too, no one knows how I avoided the blast, I guess my guardian angel was working very hard. I had to deal with the fact I was the only one left, I didn't know why until I started doing good as a cop, that's why I survived. You need to survive you still need, I still need you." Danny said, his voice full of emotion.

Danny tried to read his book but he couldn't he just kept watching her face looking for movement the slightest sign she might be awake. He fell asleep by her bedside, and he woke up when a nurse came in to change the IV bag.

Danny saw it was time for him to head home and get ready for work; he reluctantly let her hand go.

"Get better," He said, but it was more of an order. He lent over the bed and placed a soft kiss on her head and he hurried out of the hospital, loosening his already lose tie.

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I hope you liked that, sorry for not updating sooner, I've been busy writing another fan fiction and forgot that I had this one :) Love you guys!


	5. Night 5

I don't own these characters just a fan wanting to tell a story!

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SHE WAS AWAKE! He couldn't explain how ecstatic he was. She was awake, she had pulled through. She was going to survive, she would be back on the job, she would be able to listen to him rant, keep him under control when he lost it, do what she did best. He wondered when she would be able to go home, he wondered how much she remembers of what he had told her. She looked more peaceful now that she slept her face had more a smile.

He had sat by her side; her mind couldn't help but wonder, he had set the boys to his father so he could beside her, did he care about her that much. it couldn't help but spark a hope that she had buried deep down in her heart. Had he spoken to her, she would kill to have the memories of what he had said to her, maybe one day he would tell her? Had he pleaded with her to stay alive? Had he talked about Linda, about his time in Iraq? Had he held her hand? He had brought the pictures of her family, had her family come to see her, or is that why he brought the photos because they still didn't want to see her. She pretended to be asleep but she couldn't, he was so near but so far away. She wanted to hug him but didn't have the strength and it wasn't her place. It's normal to want what you can't have but why did she have a thing for married guys, or now a widowed guy? She felt a hand slip into hers and in answered one a question in her mind. "Yes, he had held my hand." The way he cared for her, so simple so perfect

Damn it only made her love him more the less.

The nurses rejoiced that she was awake, not only had a patient come out of the woods but her constant companion who asked too many questions would soon be gone. But a few nurses who had grown to appreciate the man who sat next to her bed where sad that he hadn't said "I love you" because they weren't sure he knew it yet, but he was on his way to being very much in love with the woman in the hospital bed.

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I hope you enjoyed just one more night left!


	6. Night 6

I don't own these characters, just a fan wanting to tell a story. HOPE YOU ENJOY!

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She knew it was wrong but she needed to know. A nurse entered to change the IV bag.

"When my partner was here did he just sit by my bed and read?" She questioned, of the nurse.

The nurse looked unsure of how to answer.

"No," She replied eventually, "I wasn't here some of the nights, but when I was here he would talk to you, Heaven only know what about, though a couple times it looked like he was crying. A couple of the other nurses said, that the wished their husband's cared half as much as your partner cares for you."

Her heart soared, he had come as a chore he had come because he wanted to.

"Thanks, don't tell him I asked." She said as the nurse finished up.

"Wouldn't think of it," She replied a smile, "Oh, two nights ago I just happened to walk by when he was leaving, he kissed your forehead, but you didn't hear that from me." She added and was gone.

She felt her breath catch in her throat, he had kissed her forehead, her hand went up to her forehead without realizing it. She felt guilty for asking and like she shouldn't know what had happened when she was in a coma.

Danny came the next night; even though she was awake she was still in the hospital. She smiled when she saw his face. She had resolved not to mention anything the nurse had told her. She shouldn't have asked anyway.

"Hey," she greeted her voice softer from not being used.

"Hey," he replied, taking a seat beside her.

"You should be home with your boys." She stated again.

"They are at my dad's," Danny said, nonchalantly.

"So, you solved the case?" She questioned, last night she hadn't asked him, she had been too confused and exhausted.

"Yeah, it was a physical therapist who would buy drugs off of his patients who didn't need them anymore," Danny explained, he then went into all the details of the case. She watched his face, the way it lite up when justice had been achieved, when a perp was locked up or when a jury convicted. His words she heard, but she focused more on his face, had really cried tears for her when he thought he would lose her? She tried to keep the thoughts from her mind, he's a widow, he's still grieving his wife, she would tell herself, but then a voice would say, but he's a widow and Linda would want him to be happy again, yet, how much time would he need before he could move on or could he even more on. These thoughts provoked her as she tried to focus on every detail he told her of the case until she noticed that he had asked her a question.

"Sorry I zoned out," She had to admit.

"I thought you did," Danny said, not offended, "How much do you remember of what I said in the coma?" he asked after a long silence.

"Nothing really," She confessed, "Want to tell me what you talked about.'

"Maybe one day," Danny joked, though a part of him was serious, maybe someday, he would tell her not only what he said, but what this had told him abot how much he cared about her. He stayed by her the rest of the night, the talked about random things both knowing that something need to change, but not yet.

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I hope you enjoyed this little fan fiction, I am considering writing a much longer Danny/Maria fanficton but not really sure if anyone would want to read it, so if you guys have an opinion I would love to hear what you think.


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